Ed Snyder began this blog in order to share his decade-long experience with all things cemeterial. As a photographer specializing in images of cemetery statuary, I've run into some interesting people, had some unexplainable experiences, and had a lot of fun.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Initially when I heard about this in August of 2013, I thought the Church was selling its cemeteries!
What the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is actually doing is selling off six its
nursing homes and outsourcing the management of thirteen of its cemeteries. To
be more specific, it is leasing the cemeteries listed below to an outside for-profit corporation called “StoneMor.” According an October 9, 2013 Philadelphia Inquirerarticle entitled “Grave Concerns” (see link at end), StoneMor Partners, L.P.,
is one of the largest operators of cemeteries and funeral homes in the U.S. The company operates 277 cemeteries and 92 funeral homes in 28 states and Puerto Rico (ref.).

"Additionally, All Saints Cemetery, Newtown (Bucks County)
and Holy Savior Cemetery, Penn Township (Bucks County) are not currently active
cemeteries, but sites designated for future use. They would also be affected." (ref. www.mainlinemedianews.com)

Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Philadelphia

So what does this mean to people who have pre-purchased
plots? Or to families whose loved ones already reside in these cemeteries? Will
they now let just anyone in (the Catholic Church has always given mobsters a hard time)? Will
the upkeep of the grounds change? Will prices go up? And I know you’re
wondering (well, I am, at least) what this means to the cemetery photographer….

My experience photographing in these Catholic cemeteries
has been very positive over the past fifteen years and I hope that doesn’t
change. Photography is allowed in most of them, though the last time I was in
Holy Sepulchre Cemetery (Cheltenham Avenue, Philadelphia), I was told that
photography was no longer allowed. One thing this brought to mind was an experience I had at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in East Orange, New Jersey, some years ago. I was stopped as I was photographing and told that the Archdiocese (of Newark, NJ) no longer allowed photography in its cemeteries.

All of the Philadelphia cemeteries on the above list are meticulously
maintained and secured, so there is very little damage from vandalism. They are
just beautiful places and I hope they remain so. One of the cemeteries on the
list, Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, has special meaning for me – it was the
catalyst for my interest in cemetery photography. Back in the late 1990s,
whenever I would drive by it, I would think, “I should really be photographing
those angel statues in there…”

Holy Cross Cemetery, Yeadon, Pennsylvania

Why is the Catholic Church leasing these cemeteries? To garner
much-needed income. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia is running at an enormous financial deficit
and the current administration sees the sale and lease of some of its major
assets as the answer ("the Archdiocese lost $39.2 million for the fiscal year
that ended on June 30, 2012, while hundreds of millions still haunts its future
balance sheets” according to www.metro.us.)

The thirteen-cemetery lease in Philadelphia will net the
Archdiocese a few dollars - $89 million, to be exact, over the course of the
60-year lease! And if that seems an astronomical number, realize that StoneMor would not have entered into the deal without the expectation of reasonable
profit. And I doubt they’d be happy with a 2% supermarket margin. The company
is planning to expand sales dramatically, hiring 75 to 100 salespeople. The
Archdiocese currently has only THREE, and does not sell many plots in advance (ref). Such "pre-need" sales are expected to increase once StoneMor takes over.

Nuns' headstones, New Cathedral Cemetery, Philadelphia

StoneMor it trying to reassure the public (in an article
published in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Sept. 29, 2013) that the properties “will
retain their Catholic character” and that prices will not go up “unless they’re
due for their annual price increase.” This increase is typically $50 per year
for opening and closing a six-foot grave, and is currently $1550.